Tuesday, April 30, 2013

(not complaining here...just writing and sharing my heartand yes I would still love more kiddos)

somehow

it seems like I am constantly under water trying to come up for air and I keep getting pushed down

I know this is a season

and I am the one who usually says that.

BUT

the baby is still not sleeping although we did have 4 good nights last week

he was only up every 2 hours.

He is back to about every hour and sometimes he even is up for an hour at a time trying to get himself back to sleep

I do miss walking outside to get some fresh air and quiet time

my quiet time now consists of having Dave take Gabe for an hour or two just so I can at least sleep 2 hours.

God never said this was going to be easyso I continue to lean on him for strength and patience to get me through the days.

I am not a sleeping in kind of person so that puts me

behind because it takes my precious devotional time away from my kiddos in the morning or just time to hang out and read or writewe end up doing them at night then and it all works out just fine

BUT

Change is happening here and I don't know if I like it or if I am just having a harder time adjusting to it. my kiddos are getting older and I have a hard time accepting that.

my days are going faster and I am running out of time to do things that I usually do

trying to pick my priorities here and what is more important.my to do lists are quite funny

I have been trying to take a nap in the afternoon with the 2 little's which works great.

I seem to be only able to nap for about 20 minutes though.

How does that work when I am so exhausted and can barely keep my eyes open.I have no idea... I love these days and I feel so blessedI wouldn't change it for the worldlove praying over Gabe every time he is up and my head is bobbingwe are so blessed I know I will never have this time againthis winter was long but home school was and is so much funI love that Spring is here and there will soon be sand and water all over the floor dirt under all their nailsbandaged kneessunscreen all day longlove being in my jammies all day and schooling Odinmy kiddos think makeup is for Sunday's only!

I realize the basic everyday thingsare all about being a motherworn out and tireddoing things over and over again it actually really mattersyou seem to get stronger and strongerand braver and braver every day is different

we are still moving forwardloving our kiddos all dayhugging them and kissing themplaying hours upon hours of Uno with thembrushing teethplaying kickballbike rideswashing dishes wiping buts and nosestalking for hours about nothingtucking them in at night I know I will never get this time backwe will have plenty of time to sleep and catch our breathstrength will come on this motherhood journeyand it is beautiful

Friday, April 26, 2013

Randomness

He's teaching Gabe about ninja training

I cannot get enough of my kiddos latelyand sometimes when I am really tired...everything just seems funnier to me!

Jonah decided to take the bathroom scale to school the other day for show and tellhe said he was going to weigh his teacher when
he got home later that day he couldn't understand why people didn't
want to go on the scale...i love their innocenceOur spring mantel...sorry about the bad picturemy nice camera is getting fixed and cleanedand yes that is Easter thrown in there too..a few old spray painted frames and cupcake tins and our dear red head doll Sally!

this girl is getting older right before our eyes

Gabe has no idea what she is doing...he is just along for the ride

we did find out if you have to raise your voice in this houseGabe will automatically start crying

Love how all of the kiddos love to read and eat at the same timeexcept for our family dinner time

Thank you for your prayers for Gabehe has only gotten up 4 times at night for the past 2 nights!Praising the Lord!We are off to do some rummaging this morning and schooling on the roadExcited for the weekend Dave and the boys are doing some work on the basement since we really haven't touched it since it floodedJust trying to figure out how to organize everything again!

Our new family picture of 7(this was from the night that Dave won an award)

too much for me....I am one of those readers who can only read for about 30 minutes

otherwise I forget everything I just read

I have terrible comprehension

it's been kind of quiet at our house lately with strep and other various colds going on trying to get Gabe to sleep has been the biggest challenge

he is a tough little babe to get downa lot of work goes into getting him to close his beautiful blue eyesnothing like the other kiddoshe likes a lot of movement and blankets in his face,which I think came from the eating issues we had with him for the first 4 monthshe just couldn't figure out what was bothering him and how to go to bed with a hurting belly just praying for him to sleep good in his crib

Monday, April 22, 2013

mobile

so I had an idea to make a mobile for Gabe and my mom had some time on her hands.I was thinking something from home with all the hodge podge craft things I havea little bit of fabric, bolts, cupcake liners and pom pomsMy mom did a great job putting it togetherAll the kiddos were jealous about having something in their room

now if we could get him to sleep at night ! Keep praying for him to sleep.he has another cold.thank you so much!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

frozen whipped topping

I made some homemade whipped topping to store in the freezer it was really easy but messyOdin was whipping the cream and decided to see what it's like when you pull the blenders up out of the bowl.A nice white coating all over the cupboards!

the kiddos can now add one whenever they have hot cocoaWe have homemade hot cocoa here all year long.We cannot get enough of the stuff

Monday, April 15, 2013

Schooling days

serious battles going on here

Jeremiah has a basket of crosses for everyone to color and take to the elderly home

Odin was making a trencher for a history project.never heard of the things A trencher was originally a piece of stale bread, cut into a square shape by a carver, and used as a plate, upon which the food could be placed before being eaten. At the end of the meal, the trencher could be eaten with sauce.

Then we had a medieval feast. they were totally not yummy

this is how we roll....

Odin was done with school so he decided to sort and alphabetize all the movies

Jonah's way of refilling the toilet paperhe just thought they were making the rolls larger now...

We do a lot of popcorn lunches in this house. That is why it is easier to order it in the #50 bags.

Odin is learning how to write a story for Language Arts right now and he chose to write aboutme going into labor with Gabe.

I thought...really of all the topics you could pick

I am changing Gabe on the floor and he comes up and says "mom what are those things called that you had to keep track of like every 5 minutes that hurt really bad?""Conclusions" He got the C rightthen he walks away and says your so beautiful momhe is going to make a good husband some day...although he wants to home school,while his wife works and he wants two sons named Thor and LokiBeauty right outside my front door....

I am sure we all have been therewhen we come home and notice our husbands didn't do this or thator maybe did it totally different than we wouldwe start building up all these assumptions in our head and most of the time they are wrong I have done that plenty of times over the silliest things that really don't matter

We have to realize as mommies that they will never do things like we wouldthey are just not made to be moms like we areGod put us in each others lives for a purposeDads are designed to let kiddos go and flywe are made to nurture and protectThey want our respectplain and simpletell them thank you more often I don't need to be thanked for every little thing I do, but men need to know they are appreciatedthey are more sensitive that waythe POWER of appreciation goes a long way.....

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Gabe update

This man is 5 months oldhe is pure delightso happy all the timeteething chewing on everything he can get his hands onhe is like swiper from Doraif you walk by something he tries to grab ithe is getting better at sleepinghe has been getting up only 3/4 times a night so farI am praying these colds stay far from him that the others had

not too sure about the rice cereal thingsome days he does good with it others he wants nothing to do with it

Olivia tosses him around and holds him like he's a dollthe kiddos are having so much fun with him but he is getting to heavy for them to holdhe is wearing 9-12 month clothing already

when they carry him he looks like he is holding on for dear life

the kiddos despise the fact that I always have a bib on him for the droolthe sweet and sassy bib in pink is our favorite!

he loves to be heldi guess that's what happens when you have so many helping hands in the houseand yes they all still argue over him...

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

I couldn't help myself......

this was Olivia this past week

glad she is feeling better!

Now Jeremiah and Dave have the bug We are slowly getting back to normalPraying that no one else gets thisGabe slept awesome the last 2 nightskeep praying!Will post about our Resurrection Sunday soon...Just getting caught up on laundry and kiddoslots of snuggling going on over here which I don't want to miss